1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle wheel and pneumatic tire arrangement, which includes a rim on which can be mounted a tire having: a radial carcass anchored in the tire beads; a tread strip; respective shoulder-like extensions which are each formed by a step, are disposed on each side of the tread strip, and do not come into contact with the roadway under normal driving conditions; and a belt which extends laterally to within the vicinity of each step extension to such an extent that a given one of the belt portions which is disposed within the vicinity of a given step extension has a width equal to approximately 25-40% of the amount by which the widest part of the tire extends beyond the end of the tread strip at that given step extension.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A vehicle tire having the aforementioned features is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 599,508 to Rhode filed Apr. 12, 1984, abandoned and now S.N. Pat. No. 835,976 to Rhode filed Mar. 4, 1986 copending herewith and belonging to the assignee of the present application. This tire is already characterized to a great extent by a low rolling resistance, a uniform wear pattern on the tread strip, an improved fatigue strength even in the region of the edges of the belt, and a satisfactorily dynamic elasticity. However, it has been shown, primarily due to the stiffness of the beads and the lower sidewalls, that deflection movements of the sidewalls are still transmitted to a large extent to the tread surface zone, so that an uncoupling or separation between the tread strip region and the sidewall regions is not yet satisfactorily achieved with this heretofore known tire.
An object of the present invention therefore is to provide a vehicle wheel and tire arrangement of the aforementioned general type which eliminates the aforementioned problems, i.e., in which an optimum uncoupling or separation exists in the tire between the tread strip region and the sidewall regions.